Lee's Traveller
The Official Weekly Newsletter for the
Lee High Classes of
1964-1965-1966
January 22, 2024
Tommy Towery - Editor
Live Like You Are Dying
Sammy Gilbreath
LHS '66
(Editor's Note: I saw a post on Facebook about a book written by Sammy, one of our LHS Classmates, and I contacted him for permission to mention it in Lee's Traveller. In our correspondence, he pointed me to his website where he posted a video that many of you should enjoy. I personally think he has a great philosophy on life.)
Click on the picture below to watch this short video. It will open up in a different window, but you can shut it down with finished and return here.
Sammy also has his book available from Amazon. "(Learning to) Live Like You’re Dying" is the encouraging true story of Sammy Gilbreath, a man who has faced a death sentence, medically speaking, and has chosen to live his life to the fullest for as long as he can. To say it in baseball terms, it’s like being at bat, one run behind, the bottom of the ninth, two outs, and a three-two count. As long as you still have one strike, you never quit, never give up, never give in! Click on the book photo below to find it.
The Wayback Machine reminds us of one of the hit songs of our times.
Are You Lonesome Tonight?
Tommy Towery
LHS '64
"Are You Lonesome Tonight?" is a song written by Roy Turk and Lou Handman in 1926. It was recorded several times in 1927—first by Charles Hart. Knowing it's origin, the mention of "parlor" makes more sense. In April 1960, after Elvis Presley's two-year service in the United States Army, he recorded the song at the suggestion of manager Colonel Tom Parker; "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" was Parker's wife, Marie Mott's, favorite song. Its release was delayed by RCA Victor executives, who thought the song did not fit Presley's new (and publicized) style. When "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" was released in November 1960, it was an immediate success in the U.S., topping Billboard's Pop Singles chart and reaching number three on the R&B chart. A month after the song's release, it topped the UK Singles Chart. Presley's version was certified by the Recording Industry Association of America for a Gold Record Award for 1,000,000 copies sold in the United States in 1983. It was upgraded by the RIAA to a 2 x Platinum Record Award for 2,000,000 sales in 1992.
"Are You Lonesome Tonight?" was not released for several months while RCA executives decided if the ballad reflected Presley's new style, but they and Parker ultimately decided to release it. The song was released as a single on November 1, 1960, with "I Gotta Know" on the B-side. Orders for the single began at 900,000 copies the first week and climbed to 1,200,000 during the second. The song debuted on Billboard's Top 40 at number 35 on November 14, moved a week later to number two and topped the chart by November 28 (replacing Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs' "Stay"). Presley's 15th chart-topping single, it held the top position until January 9, 1961. The success of "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" made the song one of Presley's live staples. He performed it live for the first time on March 25, 1961, at a Bloch Arena benefit in Honolulu for the USS Arizona Memorial.
"You know someone said that the world's a stage. And each must play a part" refers to "All the world's a stage" from William Shakespeare's As You Like It.
Like "Way Down Yonder in New Orleans" which I wrote about last week, "Are you Lonesome Tonight?" was also recorded much earlier than the version we came to love. Here is the first version done in 1927 by Charles Hart and another one by Al Jolson.
I want someone to comment on this comparison.
Many thanks go out to Sammy Gilbreath for allowing me to highlight his thoughts in this issue. He is very inspiring in his ideas.
I was informed of the death of one of our 1964 classmates, but I could not collaborate it with either a second classmate or a printed obituary. If you know of the recent death of a classmate please use the form below to tell me what you know.
Last Week's Questions, Answers,
And Comments
Tom GIlbert, LHS ‘67, "When I transferred to Guam and was in McDonald's for the first morning I saw spam on the menu and later eating at other restaurants on their menus too. I now live in The Philippines and it is the same here. It was quite a surprise the first time."
Jim Bannister, LHS ‘66, "I was stationed on Guam for 18 months 1969-70. Guam was still quite primitive at that time. The Fujita Hotel was just being completed about the time I left. There were no fast food joints, McDonalds, or Burger King. My favorite place to eat was The House of Wong and they did serve Spam. I love Spam and actually have a can in the cupboard right now."
Craig Bannecke, LHS ‘65, "Tommy, I enjoyed your article "Remembering (SPAM)" because I certainly remember it. It was the meat of choice as a Boy Scout in Troop 305 and as a kid growing up in Lakewood. Our Lakewood neighborhood was bordered on the Northwest side by Pinhook Creek which was surrounded by woods and fields. It was a young boy's delight if you loved the outdoors as many of us did. Often we would spend the entire day running the creek banks and swimming in "the Pond". The Pond was spring-fed and cold as ice and we loved it. Back in those days, you didn't worry about having a bathing suit to swim in the pond. We just stripped "butt neck'ed" as they would say and jumped in. Spending the day down there we would often get hungry as you can imagine. So from time to time one of us would bring our Boy Scout cook kit and a can of SPAM. We'd build a fire and cook our SPAM over an open fire. Sometimes we would catch a number of crawdads and put them in a coffee can with water and boil them and "try" to eat the tails. Most the time I can honestly say we stuck with the SPAM. On our Scout overnight camping trips we would have our tents and cookware along with eggs and bacon and such. But we would always have a can of SPAM. That was our go-to meal if we ruined everything else or were still hungry! Thanks for the article and jogging some good memories of my boyhood past. Here's a picture of my cook set."
